Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

okay, so i picked up a 79 diesel rabit. non-running. primed the system. added fuel to the filter and loosed the banjo bolt ontop of the injector pump,thre some diesel in there... i got it to run. but smokes alot...

so today i had it runing then turned it off to jack it up when i went to turn it back on it wouldnt start.. i cracked the banjo bolt on the top of the injector pump to see if there was fuel it it. all i saw was a whitish milky liquid . i popped the overflow tank and is green as normall. checked the oil. its the color is should be. could this be a bad seal somewhere. it seems as coolant is gettin mixed with the fuel?is that possible? could it be a blown headgasket ? what do you guys think

Maybe the filter or tank has water in it. Was this a new filter you used or the existing one? Try opening the drain on the bottom of the filter and see what comes out.

Yeah, drain the filter out. See what comes out other than fuel

make sure the glow plugs are lit, too much smoke when running could be

low compression
bad injectors
nasty fuel
pump out of time

Sounds to me like air in the fuel (which would cause both the "milky" look, the hard start situation and the smoke. Regardless a new filter would be a good idea. There is no way for coolant to get into the fuel unless someone dumps it in the fuel tank. If there is water in the fuel then get it out of the pump very quickly as it will cause significant damage quickly.

Andrew